At home with Jane Austen

Available for 9 days

Donald Macleod visits the home of Jane Austen with historian Amanda Vickery to discover some of the seasonal customs and Christmas music of late-Georgian Britain. Today they discuss what Austen’s writings reveal about celebrations at Christmas time, and how her experiences of this time of year were often quite different to our own. Many of the festive traditions we know and enjoy today only arrived in Britain after Austen’s time. We also hear from some of the local composers who provided Christmas music for Britain’s growing community of amateur choirs. Thomas Clark: While Shepherds Watched Psalmody The Parley of Instruments, conducted by Peter Holman William Matthews: How beauteous are their feet Claire Tomlin, soprano Psalmody The Parley of Instruments, conducted by Peter Holman Anon: The Holly and the Ivy The Oxford Waits The Mellstock Band Viotti: Violin Concerto No 13 in A Major, I. Allegro brillante Adelina Oprean, violin European Union Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jörg Faerber Handel: Messiah (extracts from Part 1) Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-soprano Mark Padmore, tenor The Sixteen, directed by Harry Christophers